The state of Louisiana’s oil and gas regulatory process, mineral leasing rules, and coastal management issues are the primary topics to be covered in the fourth annual, SONRIS to Sunset conference hosted by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) have completed an agreement to streamline the management of water wells and state ground water under DNR.

State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Scott Angelle announced today the appointment of three members of his executive staff. Robert D. Harper, Marjorie McKeithen, and James H. Welsh have returned to top positions they previously held with the department.

The upturn in drilling permits being handled by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Office of Conservation this year continues, with 52 drilling permits having been submitted on Monday.

The state Office of Conservation is distributing a video and lesson plan to middle schools across the state, beginning this week. The video and ready-to-use lesson plan is about science, safety, and preventing youngsters from playing around well sites.

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has aggressively pursued oilfield site restoration since 1994. Several years ago as Act 404 was established by the legislature, both state government and the oil and gas industry moved into fast-gear to evaluate and identify orphaned or abandoned oilfield sites in Louisiana. It was determined then, that the oil and gas industry’s role would be to provide funding for restoration of such sites.

Members of the state’s Oilfield Site Restoration Commission received fiscal year-end reports last Thursday, on projects in six parishes where orphaned wells have been closed through the Oilfield Site Restoration Program (OSRP). The commission meets quarterly in Baton Rouge at the La. Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation.

Orphaned and abandoned oilfield sites across the state are getting attention and being restored under the state’s Oilfield Site Restoration Program, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials revealed today in Baton Rouge. An orphaned oilfield site drilled in 1948, and located just south of LSU’s campus was visited this morning by news media, local and state officials, environmentalists, and others close to the project.

The site of an abandoned commercial oilfield-waste disposal facility near the community of Cankton in St. Landry Parish was transformed in 2003 to a vast stretch of freshly turned earth. This large-scale cleanup, implemented over a four-year period, came about because of the efforts of committed citizens, two major oil and gas exploration and production companies, and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation has issued a memo to oil and gas operators working in the Haynesville Shale area to enlist their aid in ensuring water drawn from domestic water wells is not used for industrial purposes, such as the hydraulic fracturing of shale formations, without proper notification to the state.